


Knee Deep

by Foxberry



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Flashback, M/M, Reincarnation AU, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3966883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxberry/pseuds/Foxberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A casual beach trip reminds Armin of the feeling of home when one of Jean's harmless pranks goes wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knee Deep

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [erejearmin](http://erejearmin.tumblr.com/)'s piece for the Jearmin Reverse Bang, which can be found [here](http://erejearmin.tumblr.com/post/119383718809/there-were-a-couple-bumps-but-heres-my-entry-for).

The salty air caresses Armin’s face and stings lightly across his cheek. The chill of the water reaches up to his knees as he wades through the ocean waves lolling around his legs. They pull and push at him as if unsure of whether he should stay or go, but he pays them no mind nonetheless. His pants keep the chill around his legs, soaking water higher in the fabric of his pants as he walks. It’s peaceful and calming. Even the pushing of the water against him, the resistance with every half-dragged step, doesn’t seem so bad while he’s out in the ocean today. Somewhere he always loves to be.

The sun above shines down like warm encouragement, urging him on through the cold water towards the goal he sees in the distance. It draws closer with every step, and his smile grows at the thought of reaching the cave he has heard so much about. He has planned this for weeks: the waking up early in the morning, the drive up to the coast with breakfast along the way, the trek across the beach, and finally the wade through the water as the tide goes out to reach the cave.

Behind him, he can hear a voice calling out. It sounds desperate and loses its strength in long pauses and huffs of air, almost completely overshadowed by the sea breeze rushing past them. Even the waves are louder, but still Armin knows that voice too well to dismiss it. He turns his head to look over his shoulder as he walks. His hair is damp in the misty air carried across the breaking waves; it whips against his face and he squints into the distance behind him. “Jean?”

Further down the beach he makes out a figure trudging through the water. His hands raised and waving, Jean is unmistakable even from here. His voice, however, is still lost in amongst the whispering of the ocean around their feet. Armin can almost guess what he is saying by the way he hunches forward and takes steps as if weights are tied to his feet.

He yells out, cupping his mouth with both hands, making the sound just loud enough for Armin to hear his name. “Armin! Armin! Would you wait up?”

Armin opens his mouth to speak, but his lips fall open just to breathe. He figures his voice is probably not loud enough to reach him at this distance. It seems best to signal back and save his voice for later. Armin extends his arm up into the air and waves his hand. Jean calls out again and he can just make out a few words. “...trying ... catch up!”

“What?” asks Armin into the wind. He tries to yell out this time, but imagines he just looks to be mouthing words, barely lit by the early morning light. Armin wonders whether Jean can make out his face. Armin has his own trouble without his glasses, but it is better than losing them. They sit folded neatly in his pocket -- protected, safe, and unlikely to be lost. He only wishes he was not so concerned about them.

Jean gestures suddenly. His hands strike the wind as if it is in his way. His longer blond locks flow above the stagnant dark undercut beneath. Unlike Armin, Jean seems far more frustrated by the wind caressing him with salt and sand and mist. His voice becomes louder, strained by the volume and his impatience. “Slow down! I need to catch up to you.”

Armin takes a few steps back, glancing down at the watch on his wrist. It wouldn’t be long now, and Jean is a good one hundred steps behind. Armin decides to begin walking again, twisting himself around, his bare feet feeling the sand between his toes. “You’re faster than me, Jean,” Armin calls out matter-of-factly, not daring to look back. The smile on his face rings through in his tone. Jean has always been the faster one. Armin had expected he would have caught up by now but he supposes he should know better than that now. Jean always had a way of surprising him and subverting his expectations.

“Yeah, but I didn’t get a head start like a certain someone.” Jean’s voice cracks in the air, but it’s clearer now. Armin laughs to himself. He only wishes he had his glasses to see Jean’s expression better. He suspects the wait would be worth it. Whenever Jean put up with the more arduous of Armin’s explorations, he would vent his frustrations. Eventually, once he calmed down, he would work them out against Armin’s lips. Whether Jean has noticed this in himself, Armin is not sure, but neither is he eager to spoil it if he hasn’t.

“I’m not running,” Armin responds, turning around, and puts his arms out wide. A wave crashes against his stationary legs. “I suppose I could just stand here and wait for the tide to go out.”

“Maybe,” Jean huffs and struggles to speak as he hurries himself through the waves. “If you didn’t just jump out of the car the first chance you got, I could actually be walking with you.” He gestures towards Armin briefly. “Not behind you.” 

“I had to make sure we were going to get there on time.” Armin’s eyebrows furrow as he stands there waiting. “Speaking of which, what is the time?” He checks his watch again as if he hasn't really read it the first time. He squints to make out the hands. “3.05pm,” he says aloud to himself. “All right, so that gives us about 15 minutes until low tide, and we should have at least another… hour, I think. If I remember correctly, it’s about that…”

Jean is closer now, making up at least half the distance between them while Armin was waiting. His voice is clearer, although rasping from its exertion. “Are you talking to me?” His movements are still slow and steady. Each step trudges through the water, splashing it further up his knees. 

Armin dismisses his question with a wave of his hand. “No, no!” His eyes, however, do not remove themselves from the horizon. He stares out at the ocean like it holds the answers he is looking for. He mutters just under his breath, paying no attention to Jean as he disappears into his thoughts, trying to recall the exact details he had written down in planning.

“Oh, because I thought you might actually want to talk to your boyfriend!” Jean shrugs with exaggeration. He slows his pace as he frowns a little. He edges closer, pausing to tilt his head, waiting for a response.

Armin shakes his head, snapping out of the trance he found himself caught in. His eyebrows dart upwards and he hums for a moment before he processes what Jean has just said to him. “Jean.” He sighs, smiling to reassure him. “You know I always want to talk to you.” 

“It sure looks like it right now.” Jean huffs, trying to speed up, crossing his arms and kicking at the water. “Would you stop walking away from me?” He always has a way of sulking when he wants attention. Armin finds it endearing. He’d be sure to act on that later.

“Hurry up, Jean.” Armin chuckles and starts off again. “There’s not much further until the cave. We’re really not that far away. It’ll be worth it.” He points to the walls of the cliffs as he approaches them at the end of the beach. They’re made of a dark grey stone, appearing to rise up into the sky from the shore below, its surface smoothed by years of ocean spray and chilling winds. Armin peers around him. The water is growing shallow here. The further he moves toward the cliffs, the more he edges out of the ocean.

As if he hasn’t heard him and catching Armin’s eye, Jean continues, “Water wasn’t made for walking in Armin. Let me catch up. You had a head start.” He reaches down and strikes at the water at his knees with a slap of his hand. It sprays into the air, catching in the wind and spraying Jean directly in the face. Crying out, he blinks his eyes and sighs. He begins to wade out towards the shore where the water is more shallow, huffing all the while. He kicks the water as he ponders, and as an idea strikes him, he stops, smiling to himself.

Turning back, Armin peers into the distance. Waves seem to break differently where the cliffs begin to curve around away from the beach. “That’s odd. It must be where the cave is,” he thinks aloud to himself and can’t help himself from smiling. “It’s so close now. I can only imagine what it looks like inside when the tide is out. Gosh, it’s been about three hours getting here. I almost want to slow down and just savour this moment.” Armin keeps walking forward, closing his eyes to feel the wind on his skin. “What do you think, Jean?”

Behind him he can hear the splashing of water and wet thuds across the ground. Jean has finally taken to running to catch up. Jean is not the most graceful of creatures and Armin can only imagine how ridiculous he must look. Armin giggles at the image beginning to form in his mind. He waits for Jean to get closer before he peeks behind him. He isn’t wrong. Laughter sneaks past his pressed lips at Jean’s cheeky grin. He is up to something.

Armin’s face eyebrows furrow in suspicion. A smirk creeps its way into the corner of his lips. “I’m glad you finally see the urgency of this expedition!” he jokes loudly. Jean does not respond, too focused on reaching Armin to do anything but smile to himself. He appears somewhat pleased. Armin simply shakes his head and chuckles. “What are you up to, Jean?” Jean refuses to answer.

“Well, I guess I’m just going to have to go on without you.” Armin stomps through the waves with an exaggerated flair. His hands curl into fists. “You’re just taking your sweet -- Oooff!” Arms wrap around Armin’s middle and next thing he knows he’s falling. 

The waves beneath him wash away. Sand disappears to the green of expansive fields. The smell of grass reaches his nose. The light of the sunrise becomes the richer orange of sunset and the sky itself seems different. He hits the ground with a thud. The grass he smells strokes his face and the smell of the dirt joins it. He spins, a hood flapping around the edge of his face. Suddenly he’s spinning in the air again. The cape behind him tugs and flaps in the air rushing past him, propelled into a speed he could only feel. 

His vision blurs as the world seems to fly past. When it’s clear for a few small moments, he can see with a clarity he has never known, but one he seems to remember. He has never had vision like this before. There are no waves before him now. Fields fill his view, dotted with tall trees rising up into the sky. The ocean is now a sea of grass. He thumps the ground again and tumbles to a stop. 

He can see a glimpse of someone nearby. Red trickles down into his eyes but he can still make out the unmistakeable shape of Jean’s face. His forehead feels wet. He hears his name. He closes his eyes briefly with a sharp breath in and he opens his eyes to find Jean’s eyes meeting his. The red is gone and the familiar blur in his vision returns. A hand grasps the nape of his neck, holding him up. He hears his name but he’s not quite there yet.

“Armin?” Jean’s voice calls to him. “Hey!” He feels his shoulders shake. Jean’s hand grasps him firmly. Armin can make out his lips moving, and when he blinks the world clears just that little bit more. 

“Hmm?” Armin murmurs. Words seem to difficult to form. Perhaps he has forgotten how to speak. His blinking feels like work, almost slowed down by time. He knows at least that he is here, present, when the waves wash up his legs. It’s cold and wet but Armin smiles nonetheless. 

Jean holds him up, cradling him on his lap. The sunset catches in his hair and it shines about his head like a halo. “Are you all right?” Armin’s eyebrows rise up. His lips part to speak, but he chooses to nod instead in silence. “You just blacked out. I didn’t mean to… I was just…”

“It’s okay, Jean.” His voice sounds lower and far more croaky than he remembers. He can taste the salt on his tongue and the sting of sea water in his nose. Struggling to remember what happened, he reaches up to reassure Jean with light touch upon his cheek. “I just had a... dream.” It seems the right word to use. Armin can not be sure. Silence falls between them. They stare at each other, a dance of glances around each other’s face, searching for concern and truth and lies. 

“Another one?” Jean’s voice cracks and he gulps to clear the tightness in his throat. “How is this okay? I was just playing around.”

“Yeah...” He sighs with a small smile but his eyes fall to the sea. “I know, Jean. You didn’t do anything wrong.” His eyebrows furrow. His ‘dream’ comes back into his mind’s eye. It’s such a strange thing to have imagined so suddenly. He touches his forehead tenderly. Dampness meets his fingers. His hair is slicked across his brow. Yet when he removes his hand to peer at it in front of him, there’s no red to be seen. “It was more vivid.”

Jean holds him closer, propping him up to press his forehead against Armin’s. His breath warms Armin’s face, if only a little. The wind continues to whip past unforgivingly. Jean’s voice holds firm. “What was it this time?”

Armin closes his eyes, trying to recreate the scene in his mind. The grass, the fields, the spinning through the air, the clear vision, and the figure who looked remarkably like Jean all flash through one by one. “I was tumbling through grass.”

“That doesn’t sound all that bad,” Jean begins. His fingers comb through Armin’s wet hair reassuringly. “It could have been worse.”

“I’m not sure that it wasn’t,” Armin murmurs, avoiding Jean’s eyes, staring at the waves lapping at his feet. “I was flung through the air.” He pauses. “It should have hurt… There was blood.”

Turning his attention back to Jean, he sees his boyfriend’s eyes widen in apprehension. He speaks slowly, quietly. “I see.”

“But I’m okay,” he stammers. “You know that, right?” Armin grabs Jean by the shoulder with a firm hand. He inclines his head forward as if it will induce the answer he wants.

Jean’s eyebrows furrow, and his silence says it all. It isn’t the first time this has happened, and no doubt it would not be the last. Jean leans his forehead against Armin’s and together they try to forget the visions. In them there is danger and pain and tears. Here in his boyfriend’s arms -- even with the chill of the wind -- it is warm and safe and feels like home.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this and want to share it on Tumblr, you can find the Tumblr post [here](https://foxberryblue.tumblr.com/post/119384868462/knee-deep-foxberry-shingeki-no-kyojin-attack).
> 
> I would love to hear your feedback here or you can also find me on [Tumblr](https://foxberryblue.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](http://twitter.com/foxberryblue) or on my writing only blog [Foxberry Writes](http://foxberrywrites.tumblr.com/).


End file.
